The Race for Batteries

EE Times

Researchers at the University of Central Florida (Orlando, FL) have developed two energy storage technologies to extend the life of lithium ion and zinc air batteries.

"We try to convert solar energy either to electricity or chemical fuels. We also try to convert chemical fuels to electricity. So, we do different things, but all of them are related to energy," said assistant Professor Yang Yang in the NanoScience Technology Center and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

Yang's group developed a battery cathode for lithium ion batteries using a thin-film alloy of nickel sulfide and iron sulfide. They were able to boost conductivity even more by making the cathode from a thin film of nickel sulfide-iron sulfide, then etching it to create a porous surface of microscopic nanostructures. These nanopores, or holey structures, greatly expand the surface area available for chemical reaction.

Tests show a battery with the nickel sulfide-iron sulfide cathode could be depleted and recharged more than 5,000 times before degrading, compared to 300 to 500 cycles for existing lithium ion cells.

The Race for Wireless Charging

EE Times

Scientists at the US Space and Naval Warfare Systems Centre in San Diego have developed a way to use wireless charging technology underwater to recharge unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs).

“Unmanned and autonomous systems are used extensively for Navy missions and will continue to play a large role in future Navy and joint scenarios,” said Dr. Alex Phipps, chief of the advanced integrated circuit technology branch at SSC Pacific. “While most of these systems are able to perform their mission without human interaction, limitations in the amount of power that can be stored place a limit on the overall system autonomy.”

The researchers are now advocating for the creation of a guiding set of standards for these underwater wireless power transfer devices.

The Race for Alt Fuel

Fuel Freedom

Diversification has been the subject of numerous plans and initiatives of the Federal Government of Nigeria since the fall in crude oil prices.

It is noteworthy that oil accounts for more than 80 per cent of the nation’s earnings, and a cut in its supply invariably affects the economy.

Consequently, stakeholders at the 2017 WordStage Economic Forum, which took place in Lagos last week, believed that any diversification without innovation by businesses and government may be tantamount to running on the same spot.

Speaking at the event with the theme: ‘Transforming Business and Economy Through Innovation,’ the President/Chief Executive Officer of Worldstage Group, Segun Adeleye, said diversification into non-oil sectors may not be enough to sustain the nation’s economic development without adapting new ways of doing things. Read more ..

The Race for Al Energy

Forbes

“Nanotechnology” is defined by the National Technology Initiative as science, engineering or technology that involves manipulating matter with at least one dimension that falls in the range between 1 and 100 nanometers. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter which is a scale that is almost impossible to comprehend. Jennifer Kahn in an article in National Geographic tried to express this tiny distance on a more human scale by comparing it to the amount an average man’s beard grows in the time it takes him to raise his razor to his face.

Interest in nanotechnology is driven in large part by the fact that properties of materials that are stable and familiar at the macroscale we experience can change radically at the nanoscale. Understanding and harnessing these changes promises to transform our everyday world in ways that may sound like science fiction but may happen in the not-so-distant future.

Here are some recent achievements in the nanotechnology of alternative energy sources.

The Race for EVs

EE Times

In the recent past, the battery electric principle has gained a lead over hydrogen fuel cells in the market of emission-free propulsion principles. However, it is certainly too early to pronounce them dead. Now ULEMCo, a British company focusing on developing such drives for commercial vehicles, came up with a new suggestion: A fuel cell that acts as a range extender for a series battery electric van.

ULEMCo has developed a fuel cell based unit that will extend vehicle range by supplying additional power to the standard Nissan e-NV200 van; particularly targeting the need from vehicle operators for improved utility of electric vehicles when fully loaded. With the combination of the on-board hydrogen storage and fuel cell module, the van will have a range of over 150 miles (241 km) when laden, satisfying the range requirements of most average daily delivery operations for this size of van.

The power module has been engineered to provide additional energy to the vehicle so that the operational practicality of the full electric vehicle can be widened to cope with seasonal range variation, working lifetime, and the impact on range when fully loaded - all things that currently limit the range of duties an operator can target for existing for zero-emission commercial vehicles.

The Race for Solar

EE Times

A €7m project in Australia is aiming to develop large panel solar cells using low cost perovskite materials.

Perovskite solar cells are cheaper to produce and have a high absorption efficiency in sunlight, and can be engineered to result in various optical and electronic properties but struggle with lifetime. Perovskite solar cells or modules can also be used to boost standard silicon (Si) solar technology when engineered to absorb a spectral range that is complementary to the optical range of silicon cells. By stacking the perovskite solar cells or modules on top of Si solar cells, power conversion efficiencies above 30 percent can potentially be achieved, beating the best single junction Si solar cells.

Greatcell Solar, the Australian materials company formerly called Dyesol, has been awarded a AUS$6m (€4m) grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) for the Perovskite Solar Cell Technology - Large Area Module Development Project.

The company is also raising a minimum of AUS$5m (€3.5m) as part of the project funding. This will enable Greatcell to accelerate the scale-up and prototyping activities to commercialise the company's technology.

The Race for BioFuel

Pacific Standard

When they hear “biofuel,” people tend to assume you’re talking about corn. That makes sense, given that corn is anticipated to provide 80 percent of this year’s ethanol production — much more, say, than algae — until we consider a few numbers.

By all accounts, microalgae is less land-intensive than corn production, and although it can pull double duty, providing high-quality feed for fish farms, it doesn’t compete with food crops. Furthermore, even by by the largely pro-corn Renewable Fuel Association’s water-consumption standards, corn ethanol is a thirsty fuel: Drinking 2.8 gallons of water for every gallon of fuel refined, corn is often outclassed in efficiency by algae-based fuels. Read more ..

The Race for Autonomous Cars

EETimes

Having concluded the acquisition of the smart imaging company Mobileye, Intel announced first projects with company in the field of autonomous driving. Mobileye will build a fleet of 100 fully automated vehicles (Level 4) on the roads of the USA, Europe and Israel. The first cars are scheduled to start operation this year.

Building cars and testing them in real-world conditions provides immediate feedback and will accelerate delivery of technologies and solutions for highly and fully autonomous vehicles,” said Amnon Shshua, CEO and CTO of Mobileye and soon-to-be vice president of Intel Corp. "Geographic diversity is very important because different regions have very diverse driving styles, road conditions and traffic signs. Our goal is to develop autonomous vehicle technology that can be offered anywhere, so we have to test and train the vehicles at different locations." In the planned vehicle fleet, Mobileye will contribute its own competences in the fields of computer vision, sensor technology and sensor fusion and map creation, while Intel is contributing resources in the field of open computing platforms, data centers and 5G communication.

The Race for Batteries

EE Times

Hitachi Zosen in Japan has developed a prototype solid-state lithium-ion battery that it intends to commercialise over the next two years.

“We can offer solid-state lithium-ion batteries that are on par with the liquid type in performance even now,” said Takashi Tanisho, president of Hitachi Zosen, in reports. Solid-state batteries are more durable and have better temperature performance.

It has shipped samples of the battery to potential customers in the aerospace and automobile industries and plans to commercialise the technology in small cells by 2020, working with a local battery maker.

Hitachi Zosen has also been working on the technology for cars and has shipped samples to Honda’s research arm. “There are many companies working on solid-state batteries,” Tanisho said.

Houston Chronicle

The pipeline project includes building a fractionator near Corpus Christi to separate the NGLs into individual products - ethane, propane and butane - as well as products pipelines to carry the ethane and more to Houston-area markets like Mont Belvieu. The products typically are exported sold to the petrochemical sector and heating markets.

For a privately owned startup without projects under its belt and a massive price tag, full financing could still be quite a ways off. However, Permico co-founder and CEO Jeff Beicker said the company has funding commitments from unnamed South Korean investment banks and pension fund institutions. The company said it has about $800 million committed by Korean pension funds, but Permico isn't naming the funds. Read more ..

The Race for EVs

Toyota (Aichi Prefecture, Japan) is reportedly working on a new type of battery for electric vehicles (EVs) that it hopes to commercialize by the early 2020s.

Rather than being based on current lithium-ion technology, the new battery is to be solid state . This would offer a host of advantages for electric vehicles so equipped, including improved safety, significantly increased driving range, and reduced charging time.

The company is planning a new electric vehicle - built on an all-new platform - that will use the new batteries. According to reports, the new EV will recharge in "just a few minutes," compared to the usual 20 to 30 minutes recharge time for lithium-ion batteries.

Previously having focused on hybrid electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, Toyota late last year announced plans to produce long-range EVs.

The Race for EVs

EE Times

Startup company Sono Motors (Munich, Germany) has launched its debut feature: An electric vehicle that obtains its power not only through the grid, but also through solar cells integrated on its surface. Also, the Sion is up-to-date in terms of connectivity and IT-supported usage models.

The surface of the vehicle is covered with a total of 330 solar cells that are integrated into the roof, doors, the trunk lid and the front bonnet. Of course the energy these solar cells provide does not suffice to drive the four-seater completely, but as long as the car sees the sun they contribute to charging the batteries – according to the company they generate enough electricity to add some extra 30 kilometers per day.

The battery stores enough electricity for a 250 kilometer ride – not bad, given the competitive environment such as BMW’s i3 (maximum 160 km, and all that at a price tag of 30.000+ euros). The Sion, in contrast will cost 16.000 euros – and buyers have the choice to either buy the battery (for some 4000 euros) or rent it. Another unique feature of the electric system is that it can be used as power source, providing up to 2.7 kilowatts (DC) through the standard plug or up to 7.6 kW through an optional Type 2 connector. The bidirectionality of the electric system also enables the car to pump electricity back to the grid if required – a prerequisite to establish smart grids.

The Race for Alt Energy

EE Times

Researchers at Vanderbilt University's (Nashville, TN) Nanomaterials and Energy Devices Laboratory have developed an ultrathin system that harvests energy from motion at very low frequencies, one of the major challenges of such systems.

The system uses atomic layers, or 2D nanosheets, of black phosphorus that generate small amounts of energy when it is bent or pressed, even at the low frequencies of human movement.

"When you look at Usain Bolt, you see the fastest man on Earth. When I look at him, I see a machine working at 5 Hz," said Nitin Muralidharan, a doctoral student who co-led the project with Mengya Li

Most energy harvesting systems based around piezoelectric crystals operate at around 100Hz and have to be tuned to the resonant frequency to be most effective. The 2D nanosheets can pick up much of the energy generated at frequencies down to 0.01Hz, meaning most of the energy from the movement is collected.

The Race for Batteries

EE Times

The UK government, is due to announce today the first phase of a four-year £246 million investment (about €275 million or $320 million) in the research and scale-up to production of battery technology.

Battery development is being supported under a scheme the government calls the Faraday Challenge and has been selected because making batteries more efficient and renewable is likely to form a cornerstone of a low-carbon economy as batteries are used broadly in cars, aircraft, medical equipment, consumer electronics, and in district or grid storage. It is also intended to capitalize in good academic research present in the UK.

The spend of £246 million by the government is intended to help the UK become the world leader in the design, development and manufacture of electric batteries. The first phase will be a competition to establish a £45 million 'Battery Institute' for research into battery technology.

The Race for Batteries

Reuters

Tesla Inc. has won an Australian contract to install the world's biggest grid-scale battery, in what experts say will be a litmus test for the reliability of large-scale renewable energy.

Tesla's CEO Elon Musk, known for his bold approach to cars, clean energy and space exploration, trumped dozens of competing proposals to build the gigantic lithium-ion battery that will serve as emergency back-up power for South Australia - a state racked by outages.

But under the agreement, Tesla must deliver the 100-MW battery within 100 days of the contract being signed or it will be free - a commitment Musk made in a Tweet in March.

"There will be a lot of people that will look at this -'Did they get it done within 100 days? Did it work?'" Musk told reporters in South Australia's capital city of Adelaide.

"We are going to make sure it does."

The battery, designed to light up 30,000 homes if there is a blackout, will be built on a wind farm operated by France's Neoen - parts of which are still under construction. Read more ..

The Race for Hyperloop

from agencies

What is Hyperloop?

Hyperloop is on track to be the next great transformation in mass transportation. The concept is simple: a network of on-demand, electrodynamically levitated pods traveling in evacuated tubes at 95% of the speed of sound. The term 'Hyperloop' was first coined in 2012 by technology billionaire and serial entrepreneur, Elon Musk. It is a radically new concept of point-to-point travel at speeds over 700mph, covering the distance between Edinburgh and London in 35 minutes.

How could Hyperloop influence the way that we travel in the future?

The implications of a Hyperloop corridor are immense; intercity commuting becomes comparable to taking the metro, injecting economic stimulus throughout the country and creating a superproductive population. Beyond connecting cities, Hyperloop has the potential to combine separate airports into terminals of an integrated airport network. Read more ..

The Race for Hi-Speed Rail

EE Times

Did you know that Milton Keynes is well on its way to becoming a fully functional smart city? The MK:Smart initiative is partly funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and led by The Open University, and it aims to develop innovative solutions to support economic growth in Milton Keynes.

One such solution, targeted at supporting transport links within the city, is MotionMap. This tool uses information gathered by a sensor network around the city to feed updates about congestion and car park occupancy to a mobile app. Any smart city will inherently be reliant on smart systems like this, which in turn rely on data and energy transfer.

This all increases the levels of disruptive electromagnetic interference (EMI) that can have a seriously detrimental effect on power quality. Smart cities will live and breathe data and communications through the many devices that will exist on the Internet of Things (IoT) web, but power quality issues could seriously affect the efficacy of these devices if proper precautions are not taken. For instance, prolonged exposure to EMI could cause major disruptions to vital rail signalling or to onboard services, putting passengers at risk.

The Race for Wind

Scientific American

Wind energy is soaring in the U.S.; the nation’s renewable energy capacity has more than tripled in the past nine years, and wind and solar power are largely responsible. Now businesses want to harness even more wind energy, at a cheaper price—and one of the best ways to lower cost is to build bigger turbines. That’s why an alliance of six institutions led by researchers at the University of Virginia are designing the world’s largest wind turbine at 500 meters tall—almost a third of a mile high, and about 57 meters taller than the Empire State Building.

Turbines are already noticeably larger than they were 15 or 20 years ago. Size varies, but today’s typical wind farm towers stand around 70 meters tall, with blades about 50 meters long. Their power output depends on size and height, but it generally ranges between one and five megawatts—on the upper end, that’s enough to power about 1,100 homes. “There's this motivation to go to larger wind turbines, and the reason is pretty much economics,” explains John Hall, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University at Buffalo, S.U.N.Y. One reason giant turbines are more cost-effective is that wind blows stronger and more steadily at greater altitudes.

The Race for Autonomous Cars

EE Times

With the amount of software in today’s cars in the dimension of millions of lines of code, updating vehicle software today is a cumbersome business. Now Continental has created the necessary technology and infrastructure to enable secure software updates over the air, doing away with the need to visit the garage for every update.

With significance for software for the user experience of car buyers updates having dramatically increased over the past decade or so, automotive manufacturers are feverishly working on solutions to establish similar mechanisms for their vehicles. So far, only Tesla dares to update the software of its cars automatically. All others look jealously over the fence, frightened by the prospect of a terrible glitch or, even worse, a cyber attack against the transmission path. Also, updating a vehicle’s software is somewhat more complex than updating a smartphone’s operating system: Up to 100 computers are involved, and since they are all connected, the activities of most of them can have side effects on others. Plus, the number of possible variants and options in a car is much bigger than in a smartphone. And last but not least, no one can afford a failed software update – in a car such a situation would have far more serious consequences than with a smartphone.

The Race for Batteries

EE Times

The team at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology ( NTNU) in Trondheim have developed a battery system with three liquid layers: sodium at the top as the negative electrode, a sodium chloride based electrolyte in the middle, and zinc at the bottom as the positive electrode.

To prevent the zinc containing ions from reacting with the sodium electrode, a porous diaphragm or separator is placed between the electrodes. Avoiding a brittle, expensive β-alumina ion selective membrane and replacing it with a cheap durable diaphragm material significantly improves the performance and reduces the cost of liquid metal batteries.

The choice of immiscible electrolytes and electrodes will ensure a safe battery system, which in the unlikely event of mechanical failure will discharge without any undesired effects such as fire or explosion. This compares to sodium sulphur (NaS) molten salt batteries which have been demonstrated for grid storage. Read more ..

The Race for Solar

Jewish Voice

At a recent White House meeting, President Trump told congressional Republicans that his suggestion in terms of construction of the US-Mexico border wall would be to seriously explore the solar paneled option.

The WSJ reported that two lawmakers who attended the meeting told them that Trump said the solar panels could offset the exorbitant costs in erecting such a border wall. This can be effectuated by collecting revenue from the sale of solar power that the panels would generate. Those funds could be earmarked to assist in offsetting the projected multi-billion dollar cost in construction.

The WSJ has also reported that Trump’s idea for the use of solar panels to build a wall separating the US and Mexico came after the Department of Homeland Security issued a solicitation of proposals a few months ago from engineering firms and other construction companies for their blueprints.Read more ..

The Race for Autonomous Cars

Israel 21c

In June 2013, 250 Israeli smart-transportation visionaries flocked to the inaugural EcoMotion “unconference” to share their crazy fantasies about the future of moving people from one place to another.

Only four years later, leaders of the global automotive and transportation industry were among 1,500 participants at the fifth annual EcoMotion Main Event at the Peres Center in Jaffa last month.

It hasn’t taken long for Israel to emerge as a significant source of innovation for autonomous and connected vehicles, navigation, public transportation, alternative fuels, super-efficient engines, urban parking and environment-friendly personal and mass transportation. Read more ..

The Race for Batteries

EE Times

Researchers at Rice University in the US have used a combination of graphene and carbon nanotubes to build a rechargeable lithium metal battery with three times the capacity of commercial lithium-ion batteries.

The Rice battery uses an anode built of a hybrid of graphene and carbon nanotubes. The 3D surface provides more area for lithium to inhabit and approaches the theoretical maximum for storage of lithium metal while resisting the formation of damaging dendrites.

These dendrites are lithium deposits that grow into the battery's electrolyte and if they bridge the anode and cathode and create a short circuit, the battery may fail, catch fire or even explode.

Led by chemist James Tour, the researchers found that when the new batteries are charged, lithium metal evenly coats the highly conductive carbon hybrid in which nanotubes are covalently bonded to the graphene surface.

The Race for Alt Energy

National Geographic

Hamburg knew the bombs were coming, and so the prisoners of war and forced laborers had just half a year to build the giant flak bunker. By July 1943 it was finished. A windowless cube of reinforced concrete, with seven-foot-thick walls and an even thicker roof, it towered like a medieval castle above a park near the Elbe River. The guns protruding from its four turrets would sweep Allied bombers from the sky, the Nazis promised, while tens of thousands of citizens sheltered safely behind its impenetrable walls.

Coming in at night from the North Sea just weeks after the bunker was finished, British bombers steered for the spire of St. Nikolai in the center of the city. They dropped clouds of metallic foil strips to throw off German radar and flak gunners. Targeting crowded residential neighborhoods, the bombers ignited an unquenchable firestorm that destroyed half of Hamburg and killed more than 34,000 people. Towering walls of fire created winds so strong that people were blown into the flames. Church bells clanged furiously.

The Race for Batteries

EE Times

Lithium-ion batteries, though being considered as the power source of choice for today’s electric vehicles, are having a significant disadvantage: They are not fireproof. Even worse, they tend to catch fire under overload and short circuit conditions which can occur as a consequence of accidents. Researchers from the Stanford University have developed a potential solution.

The reason why lithium ion batteries can start burning so easily is that the electrolytes necessary to enable the exchange of electrons between cathode and anode are flammable and highly reactive. Though battery manufacturers have tried to minimize this risk through internal protective covers or by adding flame retardants, the risk persists, acknowledged Stanford researcher Kai Liu. In addition, these measures have side effects: They reduce the energy density and ion mobility which in turns reduces the battery performances.

The Race for EVs

EE Times

The annual Electromobility Index from consultancy Roland Berger and the fka automotive technology research institute (Aachen, Germany) certifies Germany and France the leading positions in terms of technology. Though the market shows growth in all regions, the market share for electric vehicles is still very low.

The Electromobility Index periodically compares the competitive positions of the seven most important automotive geographies China, France, Germany Italy, Japan South Korea and USA in terms of technology, industrialization and market.

According to the study, Germany currently holds the technology pole position in the race about electromobility – a little bit surprising, given the success of Tesla in the US and the relatively high market penetration of electric vehicles in France. Wolfgang Bernhardt, Roland Berger Partner and expert for automobile markets, explains why.

The Race for Nuclear

Stratfor

On March 29, Westinghouse Electric Co., a subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Toshiba, filed for bankruptcy. The U.S.-based nuclear power company has been building two state-of-the-art nuclear power plants in Georgia and South Carolina, but it has been plagued by delays and cost overruns. The filing sent Toshiba scrambling to cut its losses by March 31, the end of Japan's fiscal year. The Japanese conglomerate ended up writing down over $6 billion on its nuclear reactor business. But Toshiba's troubles don't end there; the firm is also working to sell off a portion of its chip manufacturing holdings.

The U.S. government is worried about what the sale of Westinghouse could mean for the future of traditional nuclear power in the United States and for nuclear power in China, which is keen to learn the secrets of a Western firm such as Westinghouse. The Japanese government, meanwhile, is wary of how Beijing could benefit in the long term, should a Chinese firm acquire Toshiba's semiconductor unit. Read more ..

The North Korean Threat

Spero

Rather than accepting their cargo of essential coking coal, China sent away a flotilla of 12 North Korean freighters to their home ports, according to an exclusive Reuters report. China has relatively few natural resources for such a large population and landmass, and relies on coal for its power plants and steel-making facilities. In the meantime, China placed a huge order for American coal from American producers.

Reuters cited as its source for the news to be at the Dandong Chengtai Trade Co., which is the biggest buyer of North Korea's coal. According to Dandong Chengtai, there were 600,000 tons of North Korean coal waiting at several ports, while there are now 2 million tons of coal stranded at Chinese ports that must be returned to North Korea.

On February 26, China publicly committed itself to punishing North Korea for furthering its ambitions of producing nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Nearly half of North Korea’s source of foreign trade comes from coal sold to China. Targeting by China of coal will produce a dramatic economic impact. In February, China declared that it was banning North Korean imports for the rest of this year.

China is North Korea's largest source of trade and aid and targeting coal imports are meant to produce a dramatic economic result.

China will increase the amount of coal it buys from U.S. producers, marking a significant change. Between late 2014 and 2016, no coking coal from the U.S. was exported to China. But in February, coal shipments from the U.S. to China amounted to more than 400,000 tons.

The Race for Nuclear

Utility Dive

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing of Toshiba’s Westinghouse unit is raising concerns among many stakeholders. Not the least of them are Trump administration officials worried about the fate of federal loan guarantees extended for the construction of the Vogtle plant in Georgia.

If Westinghouse halts construction on the nuclear power project, it could jeopardize the completion of the entire plant, triggering repayment of the $8.3 billion loan from Southern.

A Department of Energy spokesperson said the agency is "keenly interested" in Westinghouse's bankruptcy proceedings and that the administration expects all companies to "honor their commitments" to finish the project. Read more ..

The Trump Era

Jewish Voice

According to Anthony Morali, co-founder and CEO of Renewable Energy Development (RED) in New York, building a solar paneled wall would "cost the government zero dollars, would employ 10,000 people, both long and short term, and the equipment and materials used in building it will be manufactured in the United States."

Our philosophy is that the wall be 100% renewable and sustainable, first and foremost. That can be achieved through allowing a joint effort with different countries,” said Morali. While campaigning on a variety of polemical policy issues, none has attracted more of the attention of the nation and the media than President Trump's pledge to build a wall on America's southern border with Mexico. Quite candidly, the President has said that the express purpose of the construction of the wall is to stem the tide of vast illegal immigration.

In his terse verbiage, President Trump has promised that not only would the wall be built but has assured a cash strapped nation that the hard working taxpayer would most definitely not be picking up the tab. He has insisted that Mexico would cover the exorbitant costs of such a mammoth project, despite the fact that Mexico has categorically stated that it has absolutely no intention of doing so.

The Race for Natural Gas

Globes

Israel has asked the US and the UN to pressure Lebanon to change the oil and gas exploration tenders being planned by the latter in five maritime blocks. Three of these blocks are within Israel's marine border and overlap the 800 sq.km. of marine territory disputed by the two countries. At the same time, the Ministry of Justice is promoting a marine areas bill that has been proposed for years, which among other things determines Israel's marine territory, including the disputed area.

After many years of preparations and postponements, the Lebanese government published six weeks ago a call to oil and gas exploration companies to submit their candidacy for the preliminary stage of the new tender. The filing deadline for the preliminary stage is the end of March. If it goes ahead, it will be the first such tender for Lebanon. Read more ..

The Race for EVs

ISRAEL21c

As more and more electric vehicles hit urban streets across the world, better battery-recharging solutions are desperately needed to improve range, keep costs low and boost user confidence.

Oren Ezer (CEO) and Hanan Rumbak (CTO) cofounded ElectRoad in 2013 to develop their unique twist on the concept of underground electric coils that recharge vehicles as they travel on the road.

In a few months, ElectRoad’s dynamic wireless electrification system is beginning a pilot project in Tel Aviv involving a short public bus route.

“The idea of electrifying vehicles from the road is trendy right now and you can see several companies trying to do a similar concept to us, but our technology is totally different, from the coils under the asphalt to the transfer of energy to the bus,” Ezer tells ISRAEL21c. Read more ..

The Race for Solar

EE Times

An international team of scientists have engineered a molecule that uses light or electricity to convert the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide that could replace solar cells.

The team, led by Liang-shi Li at Indiana University (Bloomington, IN) with researchers from Nanchang University and the University of Science and Technology of China, used a nanographene-rhenium complex connected via an organic compound known as bipyridine to trigger a highly efficient reaction that converts carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide.

"If you can create an efficient enough molecule for this reaction, it will produce energy that is free and storable in the form of fuels," said Li, associate professor in the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Chemistry.

The Race for EVs

EE Times

In anticipation of the electromobility breakthrough, automotive supplier Robert Bosch GmbH has announced to reorganize its powertrain activities. Expecting production of almost 20 million hybrid and electric cars in 2025, Bosch has launched a business unit dedicated to electromobility – and to combine it along with existing combustion engine activities in the new Powertrain Solutions business field which will be launched 2018.

The idea is offering all technologies related to any type of powertrain through one central entity. To prevent the impression of disruption, the company assures that it will continue to further develop conventional powertrain technology, because even in 2025, internal combustion engines will be mainstream; Bosch expects combined production of diesel and gasoline engines in the area of 85 million units. Read more ..

The Race for EVs

EE Times

AltaGas and AES are battling for the title of the largest battery power station in the US with systems launching this week.

AltaGas has opened its 20MW Pomona Energy Storage Facility at the site of its existing Pomona generation facility in the East Los Angeles Basin of Southern California, while AES is opening a 30MW system at Escondido in San Diego.

AES will deploy its Advancion 4 storage system to provide 30MW of power for four continuous hours and serve as a 75 MW of flexible resource to the grid, and the company claims this will be the largest system in the US. Altagas claims to provide 80MWh from its 20MW of storage, also claiming the crown. Read more ..

The Race for EVs

EE Times

The idea of overhead power lines for electric vehicles is not new – after all, in the railway industry it is rather common. For electric trucks, it also has been considered for a while. Now the German government plans to test the technology on public highways.

The project, to be managed by innovation agency VDI/VDE Innovation + Technik, aims to test the technology in a real-world environment with real traffic. Starting point of the considerations around this technology is the question how the growing roadbound freight transport can be coped with without unreasonable impact to the environment. The German federal government estimates that by 2030 the railway system can transport only about 20% of the additional goods that need to be carted. Which in turn allows the conclusion that the lions’s share of these goods will be transported on roads. Electrified trucks could be a solution that meets both the requirement for mass transport capability and environmental friendliness, at least as the electric energy used is generated by renewable sources.

The Race for Flying Cars

EE Times

As recently as past week, Volvo futurologist Aric Dromi predicted that before mankind will see completely autonomous vehicles driving around in cities, they will see flying cars. Now someone no less than the CEO of the Airbus Group banged on the same drum.

At the DLD digital technology conference in Munich, Airbus Chief Executive Office Tom Enders said the company is in the process of developing flying cars – and a prototype will be available before the end of the year. The self-piloted flying car could be seen as a way of avoiding gridlock on city roads, Enders said according to media releases.

The Race for EVs

EE Times

Tesla (Palo Alto, CA) and Panasonic (Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture, Japan) have started production of lithium ion battery cells at Tesla's 'Gigafactory' in Nevada.

The factory started production of cylindrical 2170 cells that will be used for battery packs in Tesla's Powerpack and Powerwall home energy storage systems (above). Cells for the Model 3 electric vehicles will follow in Q2 of 2017.

The cells are jointly developed by the two companies and are 21mm in diameter and 70mm high, giving the 2170 designation, with a capacity of 5175mAh. This is wider and longer than the previous cells that have been used in Tesla systems from third party suppliers.

The Race for Smart Rail

EE Times

Between the drive towards smart cities, new high speed rail links and increased rail travel across the UK, the pressure is on to make sure our railways can keep up. Progress is not without its challenges, and as the world struggles to balance being more connected there is a real risk that power quality could be affected.

Did you know that Milton Keynes is well on its way to becoming a fully functional smart city? The MK:Smart initiative is partly funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and led by The Open University, and it aims to develop innovative solutions to support economic growth in Milton Keynes.

One such solution, targeted at supporting transport links within the city, is MotionMap. This tool uses information gathered by a sensor network around the city to feed updates about congestion and car park occupancy to a mobile app. Any smart city will inherently be reliant on smart systems like this, which in turn rely on data and energy transfer.